ABSTRACT
Recent models of metrical structure in music rely upon notions of oscillation and synchronization. Such resonance models treat the perception of metrical structure as a dynamic process in which the temporal organization of musical events synchronizes, or entrains, a listener’s internal processing mechanisms. The entrainment of a network of oscillators to an afferent rhythmic pattern models the perception of metrical structure. In this paper, I compare one resonance model with several previously proposed models of meter perception. Although the resonance model is consistent with previous models in a number of ways, mathematical analysis reveals properties that are quite distinct from properties of the previously proposed models.
